Proposed Skyscrapers in South Korea May Stir Up Painful Memories of 9/11 [PHOTO]

A Dutch architectural firm is under fire after releasing a mock-up of two proposed buildings in Seoul, South Korea that look eerily like New York City’s Twin Towers just after hijackers flew planes into them on 9/11.

The project, dubbed “The Cloud,” features two skyscrapers linked with a series of cubes comprising a sky lounge, restaurants and a conference center, all blanketed in gardens, decks and pools. But from a distance, that part of the structure looks an awful lot like the smoke that billowed from the World Trade Center buildings just before their collapse.

While MVRDV, the design firm, claimed on its Facebook page that the resemblance is purely unintentional, many are outraged. Jim Riches, a former deputy chief in the New York City Fire Department who lost a son on 9/11, said, “I think it’s a total lie, and they have no respect for the people who died that day.”

The public backlash may cost the firm the project. A Korean development company said that MVRDV’s design is only one of 19 proposals and that it will not select the winning submission until next year.